Long Range Forecast: ‘The Greatest Showman’ Joins the Christmas Fray

This week’s edition of the Long Range Forecast wraps up the outlook for wide releases in 2017 and sees the addition of initial projections for The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman and an ensemble cast in a musical drama about the life of P.T. Barnum. Should the film find critical success, in tandem with could be significant appeal to a diverse range of audiences (including families), the film could be the latest successful musical following the huge success of Beauty and the Beast and La La Land earlier this year.

I’m looking forward to it. I never was much for the original (I thought it looked cheesy even when it was new) and I like the idea of the former Amy Pond in another action role (this time without the blue makeup and so forth). As with the existence of any sequel, if it is a sequel to a popular movie, then someone somewhere must have wanted it–probably several someones. As a personal point of reference, I saw Alien in theaters back in ’79 at age nine, and I immediately wanted another one. I even started imagining my own stories with the creature. The first thing I said after seeing Star Wars in ’77 was “Now they gotta go back and beat up the Sand People!” In other words–sequel. More of what I just saw, please. It’s just surprising, then, that Jumanji 2 took this long to arrive (and if it turns out to suck and bomb, then you’ll probably never see another one).